Last year he won the Italian semi-classic, the Coppa Bernocchi. In stage races, during 2008 he won a stage and was second on GC in the Giro della Provincia Di Reggio Calabria and finished in the same position on GC in the Tours of Britain and Denmark. It looked as if 2009 would be the year when Britain’s Steve Cummings stepped up to the very highest levels of the sport; but it wasn’t – why?
PEZ: Two big wins and three excellent GC placing in 2008; just one win in 2009, how come, Steve?
Steve: The type of rider I am, it’s always difficult to win, and on top of that, I’ve only had about 40 days of racing. The season started well, I was seventh in the Trofeo Laigueglia but after that, I went to South Africa for the Giro del Capo series of races.
It took me until about August to recover from that – I was riding the Tour of the Med and it was 10 degrees; within 36 hours I was riding in South Africa with the temperature at 46 degrees; then 24 hours after The Cape it was back to 10/15 degrees at Tirreno.
I had problems from then on with my muscles filling up with fluids – one thing I want to make clear is that I specifically asked the team not to send me to South Africa; I knew that I would have that problem under those circumstances.
PEZ: But you won one of the races at the Capo?
Steve: Even that day though, I was dropped and riding with the German track team – no disrespect to them, but the week before I was in the lead group with Rebellin at Laigueglia. I felt good in Laigueglia; this year I had expected to step up to the front group in all of my races – but it didn’t really happen, until August. I managed to win that day at the Capo, but when I came back to Europe I was severely dehydrated and there’s only so much that your body can take.
When you are dehydrated, the muscle is squeezed and it over compensates by taking on too much water; that causes two problems – you lose power because the muscle is swollen and you have the extra weight of the fluid to contend with. To sort it out, you need to come out of racing; if you race you just aggravate the condition. I kept saying to management; ‘can I stop and recover?’ They wouldn’t let me and then they got cranky with me and were saying, ‘why aren’t you in the front groups?’
From then on, it was a disaster; if I’m left alone to get on with it, and given a bit of in-put on my programme then I’ll get results, but they were getting angry because I was doing what they said, and I wasn’t getting results. It was a culture clash more than anything.
PEZ: But you’re off to Team Sky for 2010.
Steve: I only signed with Barloworld for another year because I knew that there was something coming up with British Cycling. I had two year offers from other teams but Dave Brailsford (British Cycling head honcho) said to me; ‘sign for two years if you want, but trust me, there will be a great opportunity for 2010.’
I trusted him, he’s never let me down before, and I signed for another year with Barloworld. Dave doesn’t go into anything lightly; he looks into every aspect of things before he gets involved and he checked out the going rates for riders before he spoke to anyone. There were no real negotiations, he said to me; ‘here’s what I think you should be paid,’ it was more or less spot on what I thought, so that was it.
PEZ: What positives do you take away from Barloworld?
Steve: I’ve learned that I can win races; if I’d stayed at Discovery, I might have just slipped into the domestique roll and stayed there. When you know you can win, it changes your whole outlook. It also forced me to find out things about myself – enabled me to understand my body, better.
PEZ: What are you looking forward to most about Sky?
Steve: First of all, working with reasonable people; that’s ‘with,’ not ‘for!’ Riding with friends will make a big difference, you’ll get that bit extra; in the Worlds, Ian Stannard was designated to look after me but he crashed. He was so desperate to get back up, to do his job for me, that he crashed again – that’s what I’m talking about.
PEZ: Late season, you started to get form – fourth in the Copa Bernocchi was a good result.
Steve: I didn’t ride the Giro – I was pissed off that I was left out – so didn’t do much racing during May and June. When I came to racing in the Memorial Pantani, I was in the front group but I got cramp with 20 K to go. Then we had a block of racing in Holland, including the Elektro Tour – they finished in group sprints, but I was making the front groups. On paper, maybe my season didn’t look as good; but even if I wasn’t getting the racing I was doing the training, and I’ve also worked hard at losing weight – I’m lighter this year than I was last year.
PEZ: The Worlds?
Steve: It was a target and I as there until one-an-a-half laps to go – I just ran out of legs at 20 K to go. (Steve finished 52nd @ 5:20). I was disappointed not to be in the front group but I think that if I’d been allowed to follow my own programme, I could have been there at the end.
PEZ: 2010?
Steve: I think that Sky is putting together a well rounded classics team – it’s only a matter of time before Boasson Hagen wins a big classic. For my own part, I’d like to see where my limits are in stage races; I want to do the classics – I like Flanders but maybe Liege is too hard for me ; and I want to make the Tour team – I’m happy to do my job there; and I want to do a good ride in the Worlds, too. You have to aim high!
PEZ: Will you be staying in Quarrata over the winter?
Steve: Yeah, it’s my home and I’ll stay here all winter. In the last year, I’ve only been home three times - after Lombardy, Xmas then for the national championships. I feel Tuscany is the best place to be, it’s conducive to being a good rider – you only have to look at the long list of quality guys who have come from here. It just fits here, it makes the job easier.
PEZ: What does the rest of the season hold?
Steve: I have a programme, but that means nowt with this team. I have four races – so that’s four opportunities to get a result. We have the GP Beghelli, that’s Bologna - three times up the same climb where Simon Gerrans won in the Giro; then the Coppa Sabatini; Milan – Turin and the Tour of Piedmont. It’s 95% certain that we’re not doing Lombardy.
PEZ: Now the important questions – can Liverpool Football Club win the Champions League!
Steve: Of course! If you check the previous editions of the competitions, you’ll see that the final winning team are always shaky in the qualifying stages! But I’m a Liverpool fan; we always think that Liverpool can win everything!
PEZ: And finally – only hypothesising, you understand - if Bradley Wiggins did come to Sky - could he win the Tour?
Steve: Why not? Everyone is beatable, even Contador – in 2002 at the Commonwealth Games, Brad McGee caught Brad Wiggins in the final of the individual pursuit. You would never have thought that two years later he’d be Olympic pursuit champion; then defend that title, four years later.
***
‘Why not,’ – an attitude that all top athletes share; with thanks to Steve for his time – we’re looking forward to 2010 almost as much as he is!
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